To help our little cycling advocate(s), the next time you want to troll the board with an assertion that the track is being removed in deference to a trail, simply show us a link to a newspaper announcement and perhaps we'll pay more attention.
In both notices of abandonment and petitions for abandonment exemptions, the applicant must certify that it has published a notice in a newspaper in each county through which the line passes. This notice must alert the public to the proposed abandonment, available reuse alternatives, and how to participate in the Board proceeding. The newspaper notice is not required in regulated abandonment cases. (See sample newspaper notice for abandonment exemptions under 49 C.F.R. § 1105.12.)